St Joseph's Prep Hawks

2007 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships Class AAA – North Allegheny Tigers (19-4-1) vs Holy Ghost Prep Firebirds (26-5-2) April 7, 2007 - Ice Works – Aston, Pennsylvania North Allegheny 6 Holy Ghost Prep 3 ASTON - Holy Ghost Prep opened the season in November defeating defending Flyers Cup champions Cardinal O'Hara 6-4. The Firebirds have been knocking on the exclusive club once held by Malvern Prep, LaSalle, GA and Cardinal O'Hara the past half dozen or so seasons for the past couple of season and last year upset Malvern Prep in the Flyers Cup semis. Keeping with tradition, HGP followed that one up with a stunning 3-2 overtime victory over LaSalle, who was widely regarded as the favorites along with Bethel Park to win this years Pennsylvania AAA crown. Holy Ghost Prep's last trip to the State Finals in 2003 was not a memorable journey as they were throttled by Peters Twp 9-3. Holy Ghost defeated this years Class A finalist Henderson that year in the Flyers Cup AA final for their most significant win to date, but the last two wins over LaSalle and O'Hara 7-3 in the Flyers Cup AAA will really take significance if Prep wins it all. North Allegheny had been to the Penguins Cup final the past two seasons and this year has been up and down under Jimmy Black. The Tigers made two decisions late in the season that propelled them to this stage. The first was to move Wes Waldschmidt to defense where he has been just outstanding and the second is to play more physical with special attention to discipline. Add to that goaltender Max Richards re-finding his groove made the Tigers a way different team than that Bethel Park beat 7-0 in the first half of the season. North Allegheny is a team that became a part of the process the past two years and was able to capture the first Penguins Cup in their 36 year history by beating their nemesis Bethel Park 2-1 in double overtime at the Mellon Arena. Again, it was Wes Waldschmidt who would be the difference as he scored the game winner to send the Tigers to the title. North Allegheny met Holy Ghost Prep in the Director’s Cup Final of the 2003 Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase and it was Waldschmidt as a freshman, who ended that contest with the game winner in overtime and this was after an overtime victory over Bethel Park preceding that contest. Will history repeat itself ? Only time will tell. North Allegheny dominated the opening period of the 2007 Class AAA final outshooting Holy Ghost Prep 13-3 in the opening 15 minutes. The Firebirds opened the scoring with only 1:24 remaining in the 1st period as freshman Tom Seravelli took a lead pass from Nick Seravelli and scored on a breakaway squeezing the puck under Max Richards for a 1-0 lead. The Tigers had several power play opportunities in the opening period and finally broke Fran Begley who made several outstanding saves to keep the Tigers off the board with just 14 seconds to go in the opening period as Wes Waldschmidt scored on a terrific shot low to the stick side of Begley inside the left post to tie the score at one apiece. On to the second period and North Allegheny took advantage of the power play on a 5 on 3 as the shots continued to pile up on Fran Begley by scoring at 11:12 as Josh Herbert would not be denied and scored on a Tyson Stupy rebound to give NA its first lead 2-1. The Firebirds were able to fight off the remaining disadvantages and finally mounted pressure in the North Allegheny zone and were awarded a power play late in the period. Michael Andusko found a loose puck in the right hand face-off circle after some great work by Nick Seravelli and John Soroka and shot it through traffic and behind Max Richards to tie the score again at two apiece with 2:54 to play in the period. Shots in the 2nd period were 11-8 in favor of the Tigers, but Holy Ghost Prep held an advantage in momentum and shots late in the period. State Championships are sometimes won and lost on momentum and despite being outshot in the game, Holy Ghost Prep was very much in this hockey game heading to the final period of regulation and North Allegheny was still playing terrific defensive hockey only yielding 14 shots to the Firebirds. North Allegheny took the lead on the power play with 7:16 to go in regulation as Brady Waldschmidt found the loose puck on tremendous 2nd effort and chipped it past Fran Begley to give the Tigers a 4-3 advantage with 7:16 to go in regulation. Then North Allegheny took a rare unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at a very critical point in this contest under a minute later at 6:19 and the Firebirds made them pay. Flyers Cup MVP Nick Seravelli showed why he is a pure scorer as he looked off his winger streaking down the left side and lofted a wrist shot high over the glove hand side of Max Richards for the equalizer and a power play goal with 5:48 to go and we were knotted again at 3-3. The teams went back and forth over the next few minutes and when Holy Ghost was rushing the puck the other way, behind the play Josh Herbert was trying to return to his position and was interfered with resulting in a penalty and a huge opportunity on the power play with 3:48 to go in regulation. North Allegheny scored their first three goals with the man advantage and they would win this hockey game by taking advantage of Holy Ghost penalties and by showing tremendous discipline of working hard and not taking penalties themselves. Wes Waldschimdt, who finished the State final with a goal and three assists, kept the puck alive behind the Firebird net and Josh Herbert would not be denied as he took the puck from behind the net, step to the front of the cage and overpowered Fran Begley with 2:29 to play for a power play goal, a 4-3 lead and the inside track on a State Championship for a program that has been so close for so many years. If there is a defining moment for this program, the Tigers of North Allegheny, it came with 1:17 to play in regulation time as Wes Waldscmidt, the converted defenseman, who play his entire career as a forward and at mid-season, unselfishly took the role on the blueline to help lead his team to 16 consecutive victories and a State Championship, showed tremendous saavy and patience saw the overload of the Holy Ghost Prep forecheck on left side of the ice (not to be confused with the Bethel Park forecheck) and fired puck off boards ahead for a streaking Josh Herbert, whose relentless effort and skill, outmaneuvered the Firebird defenseman for the puck on a truly great play and fired the puck beating Begley down low to make it 5-3. Josh Herbert finished it off with and empty netter with :37 to go and the euphoria arose in Aston as North Allegheny erased 36 years of history and captured its first State Championship with a 6-3 victory over Holy Ghost Prep. As we drove out of Eastern Pennsylvania, the cell phones were ringing as former Tiger players, coaches and parents heard the ringing in their ears of a very sweet sound of North Allegheny – 2007 Pennsylvania State Champions. The beauty of this victory is that brothers Head Coach Jimmy Black and Assistants Bobby Black, along with assistant Rich Conlin took this group of very talented players and were able to mould a championship team to defeat Central Catholic, defending State Champions Mt Lebanon, the # 1 seed Bethel Park and upstart Holy Ghost Prep as bring joy to many of the families of the North Allegheny program who have waited for this moment for a long time and now they can raise a new banner at CRANBERRY Blade Runners for North Allegheny Tigers and start a new tradition.

2007 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships Class AA – Pine Richland Rams (23-1-1) vs Haverford High Fords (20-2-0) April 7, 2007 - Ice Works – Aston, Pennsylvania Pine Richland 8 Haverford 6 ASTON – Haverford has won three consecutive Flyers Cup AA championships and done so in impressive fashion and unfortunately the first two trips to the State finals have come up empty against Peters Township and Pine Richland. The Fords have won 14 straight games dating back to the 7-6 loss to Conestoga in early December and have beaten some pretty good teams including Cardinal O'Hara, the Class AAA finalist, Conestoga and South Jersey power Washington Township. Haverford is a high scoring team with an explosive offense and seems to have its way with opponents and has built a loyal following of boisterous fans during the playoffs that could be a factor since the Ice Works is a home game for the State Finals. Head coach Brian Cleary will have to overcome a scoreless two trips to the last two Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships with a 4-0 loss to Peters Township in 2005 at the Hersheypark Arena and another 4-0 setback to Pine Richland a year ago at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center. Haverford High is looking to capture its first State Crown since 1992, an 8-4 victory over Greensburg CC in the Class A game in Pittsburgh. Pine Richland has been the king of Class AA since they knocked Peter Twp out of the Penguin Cup in last year's semi-finals and if you have been around the club a little, they make you feel like they are ten time champions, which is part of the swagger of being defending champions. My feeling is that with this field in this year, that is a dangerous proposition. Sure the team went 20-1-1 and went virtually unchallenged throughout the season, but a 1-1 tie with Greensburg CC, a narrow almost 3-2 win over Moon in overtime and a 2-1 loss to upstart Franklin Regional are signs of a team not so dominant. Bobby Kennedy's club is the best team in Class AA all year and has met the challenges of repeating as Pennsylvania State Champions with wins over Hampton, West Allegheny and Thomas Jefferson to capture its 2nd straight Penguins Cup AA Championship. The final step in the road is the same Haverford team that the Rams defeated a year ago. The Rams last trip to Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania State Playoffs was nearly 30 years ago, held up the road at the Lafayette Ice Rink in 1977 as Pine Richland fell short bowing to eventual champions, Churchill Chargers in the preliminary round 4-1, who are a team that Bob Kennedy’s Upper St Clair team defeated in 1980 on their way to their first State Championship over Erie McDowell. Pine Richland and Haverford met for the 2006 Pennsylvania Class AA Championship a year ago at Robert Morris Island Sports Center in a very tight low scoring contest and the re-match would be a little different and if anyone was paying attention to the Pa Hockey previews of the # 1 and # 2 ranked teams in the Pa Hockey Elite 8 rankings, my sense of this game was a very wide open and explosive State Final between two very explosive offensive clubs. The Rams and Fords engage in combat in the opening minutes of this state final as it was obvious that Haverford was going to play the physical card off the bat and the defending State Champions were not going to back down as they matched Haverford hit for hit before a jammed pack Ice Works of spirited Haverford faithful and the always Concerned Citizens of Pine Richland. The Rams would strike first as George Saad took a Phil Trombetta pass from the left circle and buried a low snap shot past Jason Hazleton for a 1-0 Pine Richland lead. Dylan Trombetta extended the lead with 3:28 to go in the opening period taking a nice pass from brother Phil Trombetta and depositing it past Hazleton to give the Rams a 2-0 lead. George Saad struck again with just 27 seconds to play in the opening period and Pine Richland was off and running with an easy looking 3-0 lead after one period, outshooting the Fords 7-4. When Pine Richland took a 4-0 lead on a goal just 17 seconds into the second period on a goal by Eric Febert, it really looked like the Rams were going to blow out Haverford and the fact that the Fords were still unable to score a goal in a State Final was looming large at this point of the contest. A great shift by Haverford’s top line of Steve Karpinski, T.J. Haeberle and Chris Campli changed the momentum of the hockey game and on their very next shift, that combination was able to get the Fords on the board as Campli threaded a beautiful pass to Haeberle, who in one motion swept the puck past Stoney Hildreth to give Haverford their first goal in three years of the State Final at 11:57 and it was now 4-1. Pine Richland was still in control or so it seemed and Haverford rose like the Phoenix out of the ashes exactly a minute later at 10:57 as it was T.J. Haeberle again beating Hildreth to give the Fords new life at 4-2. Pine Richland was able to get the puck out of the zone after extreme pressure by Haverford, who out shot its opponent 14-7 in the second period. Matt Lohman scored a very big goal at 6:30 of the period as his long slap shot found its way through traffic and behind Jason Hazleton to make it 5-2 in favor of the Rams. Back came the Fords at 4:43 as swift skating defenseman Shane Coyle showed great presence on the power play of throwing the puck to the net from the far boards and handcuffing Ram goaltender Stoney Hildreth with 4:43 to play and the ravenous Fords fans were back in the spirit and their team back in the game 5-3. On the very next shift, the Haverford faithful were thrown into a frenzy as Jimmy Hazleton found the puck in the left circle and fired a low wrist shot low on the ice past Hildreth with 4:24 to go in the middle period and the Fords were now within one goal at 5-4 and had it going all their way in a wild second period. In this state championship, Pine Richland would take advantage of key moments and again late in the period would scored a very big goal in the hockey game. After an icing brought the face-off the length of the ice with under a minute to play, the line of Dylan Trombetta, Phil Trombetta and George Saad, as they have done all season long for the Rams, would deliver in a very big way as Saad wone the faceoff and the crafty Dyaln Trombetta threaded an almost unreal pass to brother Phil on the back door, who slapped the puck out of the air from just off the ice with just :01 remaining the period, sending Haverford to the ice cut down 6-4 and probably wondering how the momentum of a second period that they absolutely earned in 15 minutes could be suck right out of them. The third period picked up right where period number two left off as Reed Loney’s slapshot from just over the blue line found its way past Hazleton to make it 7-4 for the Rams with 13:48 to play in regulation. The Haverford faithful were on their feet again as Jimmy Hazleton took the puck from behind his own net and weaved through center ice firing a wrist shot low on the ice past Hildreth at 13:05 to cut the count to 7-5. The Fords showed great resilience time and time again in this State Final and it looked like a very good chance that they may be able to win the State Championship that has eluded them for three years when T.J. Haeberle scored a terrific goal shorthanded on a great display of passing with Chris Campli as Haeberle took the return pass and buried it up under the crossbar with 9:49 to play and this game was now 7-6 and anyone’s hockey game. Pine Richland showed why at this point they are a championship team as they gathered their composure and began to play defense in front of Stoney Hildreth, who to this point was not having his greatest game of his career, but he showed the fortitude as he has throughout the playoffs for Pine Richland to come up big when his team needed him the most. Jimmy Hazelton had a tremendous opportunity from the left circle to tie the game at 7 apiece and he cut loose a wrist shot, similar to his two goals in the contest low to the glove side and Stoney snagged it out of the air as to say ‘not today gentlemen’, which in my opinion was the turning point to the fortunes for both clubs. After that save Pine Richland’s defensive unit of Kyle Adams, Matt Lohman, Geoff Bagnato, Evan Goetz and the forward lines began to play great defense in front of their goaltender and forced Haverford to take a penalty with 4:49 to play with hard work and great effort. Pine Richland’s George Saad would put the exclamation point with a huge insurance goal, again combining with Phil and Dylan Trombetta, who set up the play and give the Rams an 8-6 lead and renewed confidence in their ability to play defense. The Ram sophomore forward Saad added that “the team was really nervous when the game was tight and he was proud that the team was able to play strong defense and rally around Stoney (Hildreth) to create a momentum swing” which ultimately was the difference in the contest. Haverford became frustrated as the Rams shut them down like a carnival ride at midnight and the Fords unraveled over three years of empty trips to the State Finals and the game turned ugly with really cheap and undisciplined play by Haverford, who turned a terrific and exciting hockey game into an ugly spectacle of unsportsmanlike behavior and a score of penalties and misconducts, which is unacceptable at any level and will more than likely be swept under the rug by a playoff committee more interested in squabbling over trophies and making coaches wear helmets to practice than enforcing discipline to protect the players (The history includes the 2001 Class A State Final bench clearing brawl between Serra and Springfield, where both teams were assessed 10 players getting 10-game misconducts, only to see the PIHL and Eastern Pennsylvania reduce those penalties to lesser penalties and in my mind endorse un acceptable behavior giving the sport of ice hockey in Pennsylvania a black eye administratively). To Pine Richland’s credit, they turned the other cheek and showed tremendous restraint in taking NO penalties over the final 20 minutes of the contest, which is a testimony to a champion in itself. Pine Richland was able to survive the final minutes and walked away with an exciting 8-6 victory for the 2nd straight year over Haverford completing an excellent coaching job by Bobby Kennedy, who captured his third overall State Championship as a player and coach, including Bethel Park’s first State Championship in 1997 and in 1980 as a player for Upper St Clair.

2007 Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships Class A – Freeport Yellow Jackets (18-3-2) vs West Chester Henderson Warriors (18-5-2) April 7, 2007 - Ice Works – Aston, Pennsylvania West Chester Henderson 4 Freeport 1 ASTON - West Chester Henderson lost in the Inter-County Scholastic Hockey League South Division Championship to Kennett it's final two games prior to the Flyers Cup. Prior to that, the Warriors have been on a terror since mid-November, only losing to Lower Merion and racking up a lot of goals. When Henderson dispatched a very solid Hershey squad in the Semi-Finals 6-2, it opened some eyes and then they were able to defeat the number one seed and Division rival Kennett in the Flyers Cup final 4-2. The Warriors are looking for their 2nd State Championship in school history to go with their lone title in 1982 over Baldwin, which was a 7-6 victory at the Cambria County War Memorial in Johnstown in the Class AAA championship. While the original school district has grown in size and now sports three high schools including West Chester East and Bayard Rustin, the Henderson program remains a very strong part of the history of the Inter-County Scholastic Hockey League and is looking to capture it’s first Pennsylvania title in 25 years for Head Coach Art Marcellus. One of the quiet success stories of this season has been Freeport, who has won some pretty big hockey games this season over Bishop McCort, Mars and Serra Catholic. In their only meeting prior to the Penguins Cup with Quaker Valley, they were thrashed 11-0 and one factor is that Zach Hepler, Beau Zack and Tim Zahumensky did not play in that game was a huge factor when the teams met again in the final. Freeport knocked off Westmont Hilltop 4-1 and Mars 3-1 before shocking the defending State Champion Quakers in the Penguins Cup finals 4-1, in one of the biggest upsets in Pennsylvania High School Hockey playoff history. Coach Dave Hepler, the former University of Pittsburgh punter from the late 1970’ & early 80’s , has led a group of 14 boys, a majority of the teams is brother combinations including his two sons Zach and Jeremy to the biggest stage that Freeport has ever known. Anyone familiar with the movie Hoosiers can only relate what must go through the minds of this team, who can become the first school in Armstrong County to ever capture a state championship in hockey for a small town in Western Pennsylvania, which when you think about it is really what a State Championship aspires to be in the spirit of sportsmanship and can only bring lore if the Yellow Jackets are able to complete the dream. The first period was scoreless as goaltenders Rob Mattern of Henderson and Tim Zahumensky of Freeport were flawless stopping 9 and 8 shots respectively. The Warriors killed off two Freeport power plays and established themselves defensively with excellence backchecking and tremendous defensive plays limiting the scoring chances of the high scoring duo of Beau Zack and Patrick Spangler, who combined for 70 goals in the regular season and have been the catalyst of the Yellow Jacket offense in the Penguins Cup playoffs. Freeport went on the power play at 8:18 of the 2nd period, but it was West Chester Henderson who would strike first in this contest and capitalized with a shorthanded goal by Billy Latta, who took the puck from the center ice area and beat the Freeport defense and Tim Zahumensky ay 6:16 on the forehand to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead. The Yellow Jackets went on the power play again at 3:39 and again it was Billy Latta again scoring on another shorthanded breakaway with 3:27 remaining taking nice lead pass of the far boards by Joe Carlin 2-0 and made a move on the Freeport defense and was gone in on Zahumensky beating him on the forehand to make it 2-0. Latta felt his team could win the game at this point “we gained confidence after the second goal and we knew we could win it as Rob (Mattern) and our defense was doing a great job penalty killing, which we have worked on in practice”. The Warriors held a distinct advantage in the territorial play and the shots in the 2nd period 14-7, due to the play of the defensive unit of B.J. Blaker, Joe Carlin and Cory Speroff and a deep group of defensive forwards, who limited Freeport’s opportunities and kept the puck out of their end and kept the pressure on the Yellow Jackets. On to the third period and West Chester Henderson continued its smart play and great defensive effort holding Freeport in check. Freeport had a flurry early in the 3rd period, but once again Robbie Mattern kept the Jackets off the board. The backbreaking goal came with 2:56 to play on a rebound goal as T.J. Wallace found a loose puck on the door step after hard work by linemates Jack Kelly and Nick Ramondo and poked it past Tim Zahumensky to give the Warriors a commanding 3-0 advantage. Just 13 seconds later at 2:43, the Warriors struck again another breakaway goal by Billy Latta to complete the hat trick and make it 4-0 and West Chester on their way to the Pennsylvania Class A State Championship. The sophomore Latta used the some move to score all three goals and credited studying tapes of NHL players for his success. Freeport’s Jeremy Hepler scored inside the post to break the shutout of Rob Mattern with 41 seconds to go and make the final count 4-1 as the Warriors captured their first Pennsylvania Class A title in 25 years since 1982. Billy Latta summed it up best saying “Nothing is better than winning a State Championship for his senior teammates in their last game”. Final Shots in the contest in favor of West Chester Henderson were 31 – 25, but the underlying theme of this contest was the great team effort offensively and defensively by the Warriors, who skated three lines throughout the contest, used its depth in the offensive and defensive ends, with timely goaltending from Robbie Mattern and an extraordinary performance of a very talented sophomore Billy Latta, who was almost as refreshing to talk to as he was to watch.

2007 Pennsylvania Cup Class AAA Champions - North Allegheny Tigers 2007 Penguins Cup Class AAA Champions - North Allegheny Tigers 11 - Daniel Gaertner 40 - Thomas Gillespie 61 - Joshua Herbert 67 - Matthew Lancaster 22 - Donald Lewis 35 - Adam Lutty 39 - Michael Peterson 33 - Max Richards 3 - Dylan Rohar 12 - Brett Schindler 18 - Robert Schwab 38 - Bradley Schwartzmier 4 - Corey Sheran 10 - Tyson Stupy 7 - Brady Waldschmidt 65 - Weston Waldschmidt 42 - Jacob Williams 28 - Tyler Wright Head Coach - Jimmy Black Assistant Coach - Rich Conlin Assistant Coach - Bobby Black

2007 Pennsylvania Cup Class AA Champions - Pine Richland Rams 2007 Penguins Cup Class AA Champions - Pine Richland Rams 7 - Kyle Adams 16 - Geoffrey Bagnato 36 - Jared Bagnato 18 - Jake Bosiljevac 3 - Tyler Deal 11 - Eric Febert 77 - Stephen Gates 28 - Evan Goetz 30 - Andrew Hildreth 26 - Zachary Kramer 6 - Matthew Lohman 38 - Reed Loney 78 - Joe Mahovey 99 - George Saad 81 - Jordan Shelleby 19 - Dylan Trombetta 29 - Philip Trombetta 12 - Ryan Warner 90 - Bryan Watt 37 - David Zajac Head Coach - Bobby Kennedy Assistant Coach - Troy Loney Assistant Coach - Matt Richert